News

By: Jean Crowder, Special to The Citizen

After two years of meeting with Canadians, including stops in Nanaimo and Duncan, the NDP has released the results of its "Food for Thought" tour.

My colleague, Alex Atamanenko, visited 28 communities across Canada and spoke with farmers, civil society groups, retailers and others regarding the vulnerabilities that exist in our current system of food production.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased today to speak to Bill C-474, An Act respecting the Seeds Regulations (analysis of potential harm). I want to particularly acknowledge the hard work that the member for British Columbia Southern Interior has done on the bill. It is a very important bill.

I know we have heard other discussions in the House. I want to emphasize that this bill is actually narrowly focused. We are not talking about the scientific approval of GE crops. We are not talking about mandatory labelling.

What we are talking about is that the bill requires an amendment to the Seeds Regulations Act to require that an analysis of potential harm to export markets can be conducted before the sale of any new genetically engineered seed is permitted.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak to the budget. I will be splitting my time with the member for New Westminster—Coquitlam.

I want to spend my brief 10 minutes talking about two different aspects of the budget. I want to talk about how it affects people who live in my riding of Nanaimo—Cowichan, but in my role as the aboriginal affairs critic for the NDP, I also want to talk about how it affects first nations, Métis and Inuit throughout the country.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, of course New Democrats are here to make Parliament work, but we also have a responsibility to our constituents to ensure that legislation that is brought before the House is good legislation.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo-Cowichan, NDP) Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to speak to Bill C-33 and specifically to the amendment proposed by the member for Western Arctic calling for a review of the progress made in the preparation and implementation of the regulations.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Western Arctic is very knowledgeable on energy policy. I would like him to elaborate on a couple of points that he mentioned.

One of the things that we have seen from the Conservative government is a piecemeal, fragmented and often incoherent strategy when it deals with climate change and certainly energy policy.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, my colleague from British Columbia Southern Interior has been a tireless advocate for farmers. In British Columbia food security has become a pressing issue where we are seeing the loss of some of our very precious agricultural land.

Minister hears farmers' concerns
Central Island farmers gave their input on a new nationwide agriculture plan to the federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Chuck Strahl.
The government, with each province, is working on a five-year agricultural plan for Canada, taking into account the concerns of industry stakeholders. Strahl held a regional roundtable meeting in Nanaimo last week.
"This sort of input from industry lets me know what programs are working and what are not," he said.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, the Wheat Board is a very critical element of life on the Prairies and a very important element of how farmers have conducted business for a number of years. The member touched on this in his intervention, but I would like to him to expand on this.

Ms. Jean Crowder (Nanaimo—Cowichan, NDP): Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak against the motion. I recognize that there are some very serious issues facing our farmers in terms of dealing with rodents that destroy crops and make it very difficult for farmers to maintain their livelihood. However I think it is very important that we talk about the context.